My beloved Father in law Roger sadly lost his battle with Amyloidosis on October 8th 2017. The team at the Royal Free played an enormous part in delivering him with the best possible treatment. It will be an honour for me to take on this challenge in memory of such an incredible man.
On September 10th 2019 my fellow team mate Adam sadly lost his beloved mum Judith to Myeloma, Judith had also suffered from amyloidosis. Judith was a very special, close family friend who spent a huge part of her life involved in swimming, she would have been extremely proud of this challenge.
As a team we want to support the research carried out at The Royal Free to continue to help towards prevention of this devastating disease and to enable patients and families who go through it to have the best care and support possible.
Between the 26th August and the 1st September 2020 myself and my fellow team mates will be swimming across the channel from England to France covering a distance of at least 21 miles, a distance which will increase according to the tides and currents. Some of this distance will be swum during the night in sea temperatures of little or no more than 16 degrees centigrade without a wet suit. It has been our ambition to accomplish this challenge, in order to raise awareness and support such an important cause.
Amyloidosis is a rare disease caused by damaging build up of abnormal protein fibres, called amyloid, within the tissues and organs. Amyloidosis can affect any part of the body and lead to life threatening organ failure. It causes the death of about one person in every thousand and there are about 6,000 cases in the UK at any time.The Amyloidosis Research Fund within the Royal Free Charity supports the research, development and patients of the UK NHS National Amyloidosis Centre (NAC) at the Royal Free Hospital. The Centre, established in 1999, is funded directly by NHS Specialised Services to provide diagnostic and management advisory services for all UK amyloidosis patients.
Thank you for your support and contribution to this invaluable research programme and thank you for supporting our team in our cross channel swim.